Judge Fumes As Live Nation Antitrust Trial Remains In Limbo

By Stewart Bishop

The status of Live Nation Entertainment's antitrust trial and proposed settlement over federal and state government claims of anticompetitive conduct remained up in the air Tuesday amid pushback by several states, while the Manhattan federal judge overseeing the case upbraided the parties for keeping him out of the loop about negotiations.

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Rapper Was Wary Years Before Firing Ex-Manager, Jury Hears

By Lauraann Wood

Chance the Rapper testified Tuesday that he has honored the oral payment arrangement he reached with his former manager but should have terminated their relationship closer to learning that manager tried to cut himself into a business opportunity from which he knew he wouldn't be paid.

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Sippy Cup Patent Verdict Boosted To $6M

By Elliot Weld

An Illinois federal judge awarded $2 million in prejudgment interest to Munchkin Inc. in a case where it had already secured a $3.9 million verdict over infringement of a patent and a design patent for spill-proof cups, but declined to grant its request to boost the award for what Munchkin said was intentional infringement.

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AFSCME Sues Trump Admin Over $600M Health Funding Cuts

By Katherine Smith

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is seeking to block a federal government directive to cancel more than $600 million in public health grants administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alleging that the directive was issued to target Democratic-led states.

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Juul Says Court Wrongly Revived Wholesaler's Pricing Suit

By Matthew Perlman

Juul Labs and a wholesaler are asking an Illinois federal court to reconsider its revival of a price discrimination case brought by a rival wholesaler over e-cigarette sales, saying the decision was procedurally improper and wrong on the law.

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Judge Nixed Over MAGA Op-Ed Seeks Reinstatement

By Emily Sawicki

A retired Illinois state trial court judge pursuing First Amendment claims against the state Supreme Court after his right-wing opinion column resulted in his removal from a temporary judgeship has moved for immediate reinstatement to the Cook County Circuit Court.

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Justices Advised To Keep Law Clear In 'Skinny Label' Case

By Ryan Davis

Several intellectual property groups have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to use a case involving "skinny labels" on generic drugs to set clear guidelines on what constitutes induced patent infringement, saying the outcome has implications beyond pharmaceuticals.

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Feds Urge End To IRS Wind, Solar Safe Harbor Fight

By Keith Goldberg

The Trump administration has told a D.C. federal judge there's no basis to sustain a lawsuit challenging an IRS notice eliminating a safe harbor test that wind and solar projects could use to qualify for clean energy tax credits.

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Ill. Tax Preparer Gets 10 Years For $14M PPP Loan Fraud

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge's decision to impose a 10-year prison sentence on a man for his role in a $14 million fraud scheme where he took kickbacks for preparing false applications for pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program loans drew surprised outbursts in the courtroom Tuesday from both the defendant and his attorney.

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Salesforce Wins Stay Of Backpage Trafficking Cases In Illinois

By Gina Kim

An Illinois federal judge Tuesday temporarily put on hold litigation accusing Salesforce of benefiting from sex trafficking through advertisements uploaded on Backpage.com after finding that related criminal proceedings against Backpage's founder and former executives must first be resolved.

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Insurers Can't Resume Investor Fight In $220M Coverage Row

By Emily Lever

A Texas appellate court Tuesday rejected two insurance companies' bid to stop a group of shareholders of now-bankrupt Cobalt International Energy from pursuing claims on behalf of thousands of other investors, stymieing the carriers' attempts to curtail a fight over coverage of a $220 million securities settlement.

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Grill Co. Failed To Warn Of Brush Risk, Class Action Says

By Zak Kostro

Grill maker Weber failed to warn U.S. consumers that metal bristles could detach from its grill brushes and cause internal injuries, according to a proposed class action in Illinois federal court that follows a recall of more than 3 million brushes.

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7th Circ. Scraps Mass Counterfeit Suit Based On Screenshots

By Ivan Moreno

A Seventh Circuit panel has vacated a default judgment against a group of online vendors accused of selling counterfeit soap products, finding that the district court wrongly relied on checkout-page screen grabs rather than evidence of actual Illinois sales to assert jurisdiction in the case.

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Morgan Lewis Adds 2 Data Center Pros From Perkins Coie

By Madison Arnold

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced Tuesday that it added two new partners to its national real estate platform from Perkins Coie LLP.

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Ill. Swipe Fee Ruling Sets Stage For A High-Stakes Appeal

In Illinois Bankers Association v. Raoul, an Illinois federal court upheld the state's ban on credit and debit card swipe fees on tax and tip payments, while permanently enjoining the statute's data usage limitation, but an imminent appeal could significantly influence the trajectory of state-level payments regulation, say attorneys at Latham.

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Ex-DOJ Atty Who Said 'This Job Sucks' Running For Congress

By Courtney Bublé

The former federal government lawyer detailed to Minnesota to help with immigration cases who last month told a federal judge "this job sucks" says she is running for Congress in the state.

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$600M IP Award, Quinn Emanuel Contempt Faulted On Appeal

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday vacated a verdict against the maker of Norton antivirus software for infringing Columbia University patents and reversed a contempt ruling against Norton's former law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP that had caused the judgment to grow to just over $600 million.

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Feature

Exxon Cements Texas As Delaware's Emerging Rival

By Spencer Brewer

Last year, Vinson & Elkins partner Katherine Frank fielded about one call a week from companies thinking about redomiciling in Texas. Speaking to Law360 the day after ExxonMobil announced its plan to reincorporate in the Lone Star State due to its business-forward courts and policies, Frank said the callers fell into three categories.

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Firm Probed In $4B LA Sex Abuse Deal Hit With UPL Charges

By Rachel Rippetoe

A co-founder of the Los Angeles personal injury firm facing investigation for its involvement in a record $4 billion sex abuse settlement against Los Angeles County was hit with disciplinary charges by the California State Bar, alleging the firm illegally practiced law outside the state.

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Analysis

Trump Cybercrime Order Creates New Compliance To-Do List

By Phillip Bantz

President Donald Trump's recent executive order calling for a coalition of government agencies to combat cybercrime is far more forceful than efforts under prior administrations, according to white collar lawyers, who tentatively applaud the proposal while warning it could raise new compliance risks.

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3 Attys Escape Ford's 'Retaliatory' Lemon Law RICO Suit

By Linda Chiem

A California federal judge has shut down Ford Motor Co.'s revised racketeering lawsuit accusing three attorneys affiliated with Knight Law Group LLP of orchestrating a massive fraudulent legal billing scheme, saying the attorneys' underlying conduct in pursuing lemon law litigation is shielded by First Amendment protections.

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Judges, Lawmakers Urge 4th Circ. To Affirm Halligan Ruling

By Ryan Boysen

Members of Congress and former federal judges have urged the Fourth Circuit to affirm that Lindsey Halligan was not properly appointed as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, saying the episode exemplifies why there are guardrails against installing political loyalists as federal prosecutors.

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VA, DOJ Cut Deal To Make Attys Mental Health Guardians

By Mark Payne

Under a new initiative, attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice will serve as legal guardians for some homeless veterans, the Trump administration announced on Wednesday, though some veterans advocates expressed concern that the new program could involuntarily coerce veterans experiencing mental health issues into institutional care.

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